Odyssey
by Nadie2
Summary: This is a short fluffy one-shot piece. Sam and Jack get a surprise at the end of "Unending."


Bridge of the Odyssey

The second before Sam engages the time dilation field…

….for the second time

A little girl grabs Sam's hand. Sam has seen this little girl before. She was the ambiguous delusion that Sam saw once before, on another ship, just like this one. The little girl who sang "Twinkle Twinkle", and wore Sam's mother's hair and Jack O'Neill's eyes.

But this girl was no apparition, no vision, no delusion. Sam was almost positive she hadn't been hit on the head.

"You can't press that button," the girl says.

"Honey, this is grown-up stuff. I have to put us in a…" Sam says.

"Bubble, right. I know. You think you need to put us in a time bubble. But you can't, cause you did." the girl says.

Sam goes up on her knees so she's looking the girl in the eyes, "Who are you, honey?"

She smiles Jack's smile, "You know who I am."

"But I don't, honey," she says, even if it's nine tenths a lie. She needs to know for sure who this angel is before she opens her heart up all the way.

"Mommy?" the girl says nearly in tears.

"Oh, baby," Sam says standing up, and scooping the girl into her arms. She rocks her back, and forth.

"You have a kid?" Daniel asks sounding concerned as well as shocked.

"I think I had one in the time bubble," Sam says pulling her face back to look at the little girl. The girl nods while rubbing her snot on Sam's shirt. You can tell Sam's a mom already, because she doesn't even react.

"So you're like pregnant with her right now? And you're like holding her at age six at the same time. That's… trippy," Cam says.

"I'm five," she says to Cam. Then she looks at Sam with concern, "Is it trippy?"

"No, baby girl," Sam says smoothing her hair, and putting her head back against her shoulder, "It's wonderful."

Teal'c gives Cam a reproachful look.

"What's your name?" Sam asks.

The girl giggles, "Mommy's pretending not to know my name."

"You'd better tell her, and complete the game," Daniel prompts.

"Gracie," the girl giggles into Sam's neck.

"Gracie girl, how did you get here?" Sam asks.

She pulls her head back, "I forgoted you're a different Mommy. My other Mommy, the real one. She told me you wouldn't know me," she says with concern. "She had to send me back through the time bubble, so she wouldn't push the button. And it had to be me, because otherwise I wouldn't be here. You all lived before the bubble, but not me."

"Grace, it's ok. I'm your Mommy," Sam says rocking her again. "And I love you, and I'm going to take care of you."

"I know, the other Mommy promised."

"Ok, sweetie, I bet traveling through time makes you tired. Why don't you have a little nap?"

"You stay with me?" Grace asks griping her mother's neck tightly.

"Of course," Sam says with a little smile playing one her lips.

"When we get back to earth do I get to see my Daddy?" Grace asks suddenly looking excited.

"Your Dad?" Daniel asks.

"Yeah," she says looking excited, "He lives in a place called Washing Machine."

"Washington D.C., baby girl," Sam mutters as she carries the girl out of the room.

"The girl's Dad lives in Washington?" Cam mutters when Sam is safely out of earshot.

"You don't think that she's…" Daniel says.

"The child does bare several physical similarities to O'Neill," Teal'c says.

"Did anyone know she was pregnant?" Landry demands.

"I don't even think she knew, Sir," Daniel says looking at the door Sam disappeared from with a worried expression on this face.

Sam's quarters on the Odyssey

Half an hour later

Sam turns from where she was playing with her sleeping daughter's hair to the knock on the door, and whispers, "Come in," hoping the knocker gets that he needs to be quiet. She just got her daughter to sleep. Her daughter.

"Hey," Daniel whispers. Yeah, he would pick up on this clue. The man is all about social clues.

Sam moves to the edge of the bed away from her daughter. Daniel sits down next to her.

"How are you…ah…doing with the instant motherhood?" he asks softly.

"Well, finding myself the mother of a five year old was a bit of a shock."

"How about the pregnancy?" he asks not looking at her.

"Yeah, that was a bit of shock. People don't normally find out they're carrying a baby from the baby herself."

He smiles.

"Of course, this baby isn't really her. This one will be raised on earth. She'll probably be raised by two parents."

"And one of those is Jack?" he asks gently.

She nods.

"You know, I thought I was the best friend, or close to it, for both of you. Apparently I was wrong! How long have you guys been together? You know I would have been happy for you."

"It was new, Daniel. Really new. We've been doing the long distance thing for almost two months. There was only three days were we were actually dating and in the same city. And that was three weeks ago," she says putting a hand protectively over her stomach, "How is he going to feel about an instant family? Daniel, I'm coming back to earth with two kids."

"We're talking about Jack, Sam. He's going to be thrilled."

"You think so?" she says looking worried.

"Sam, he loves you. You may not have been a couple, but you've been in love for ten years," he tells her.

"Nine, the first year he was still in love with Sarah, and I couldn't even begin trusting men," she mutters.

Daniel puts his arm around her, "You know you have other people to help you. You and Jack."

"I think…I'll be moving," she mutters.

"To D.C.?" he asks.

"Yeah, or washing machine," she says with a grin and a glance at her tiny daughter.

"She's a cute kid," Daniel says.

"I love her Daniel," she says turning over and rubbing her daughter's back.

"That's good, because she's your kid."

"She is," Sam says with a wide grin across her face.

Daniel is halfway to the door before he turns around, "We'll be within subspace communication range soon," he says, "You have any requests or messages I should send?"

"This is defiantly a face to face kind of conversation."

"I agree," he says with a smile, "Need me to get you anything Sam?"

"I'm good for the night," she says with a smile.

O'Neill Residence, Washington D.C.

Two days later

Jack's face breaks into a wide grin as he looks through the peep hole. God, he's missed her.

"Sam!" he exclaims opening the door and holding her close to his heart. Sam grins widely. She missed him too and that smell. God, no one smelled quite as Jacklike as Jack.

"Hi, my name is Grace," a small voice says. He pulls away to see a small child with her hand extended.

"Grace, nice to meet you," he says shaking the hand.

"Is it ok if I hug you?" the little girl asks him.

"Of course it is honey," he says bending down to squeeze the little girl.

"You're a really good hugger, Jack," she says when he finally pulls away.

Jack laughs, but Sam says, "No, you really are. Well, Grace, what's say we go into the backyard. You can play while Jack and I talk."

"Ok, Mm…Sam," she stammers as she runs out into the backyard.

"You want a beer?" Jack asks grabbing two of them out of the fridge.

"Ah no," Sam says.

"Ok, well I have orange juice, milk, water?" he says putting both beers back in the fridge.

"I'll have a milk, but you can have a beer," she says.

"I'm good," he says giving her a smile as he pours them each a glass. "A little chocolate?" he offers holding up the syrup with a mischievous look on his face.

"Who could say no to that," she answers grabbing spoons to stir it with as he pours the chocolate syrup in.

"So how you been? Haven't heard from you in a couple days," he says. They've talked on the phone for a couple hours a night every night since they'd started dating, except when she was on a mission.

"I had a mission."

"I figured," he says squirting chocolate into the glasses, and squirting some across the table.

"But I needed to talk to you about Grace," she says grabbing a washcloth from his drawer to clean it up, and casting Jack a reproachful look.

"Sam, I've figured out who Grace is," he says tossing the spoon into the sink after he finished stirring.

"I would be really surprised if that was true," she says using the washcloth to clean the wall that was splattered with chocolate by the spoon.

"You found her on a mission, she's some alien orphan. One you're either seriously considering adopting, or who you've already adopted. Probably the second, based on the way she just about called you 'Mom' back there, and you wanted to know how I would feel about it," he says as they make their way onto their patio chairs on the deck. Grace is trying to catch grasshoppers in the back yard. Sam remembers with a pain that the little girl has never seen insects, or other living beings before.

"Well, portions of that are accurate," she says sitting down and grabbing the milk which she takes a big long drink of.

"Which parts aren't?"

"She's not an orphan, at least not until we both die."

"What?" Jack says placing down the chocolate milk, and glancing from Sam to Grace and back again.

"She's ours, Jack."

"No, that's not possible. She's what? Five?" he asks.

Sam nods.

"Ok, so she's five, and we've been together for two months, so how can she be ours?"

"Time dilation field," Sam says.

"Hold it, like that thing that made the replicators evolve?" he says with alarm.

"Yeah, but it was a lot shorter. I was about to activate it. Grace stopped me. Apparently I did activate it. And had a baby, and raised that baby, and sent that baby back through the time dilation field."

"So you're pregnant right now?" he asks looking from her stomach to the chocolate milk.

"Apparently, it's still too early tell."

"We made a baby," he says with a grin.

"And a five year old," she adds.

"So basically we're having identical twins that are half a decade apart," Jack says taking a sip of his milk.

"That would be a great way to explain it to Grace. She's pretty confused by the whole thing. She's having an existential crisis, thinking there are going to be two of her," Sam says.

"Does Grace know I'm her father?" he asks looking at the girl with a smile playing across his lips.

"I didn't tell her, but I think she pretty much figured it out. Her mother…you know the older me told her that her Dad lived in Washington D.C. Well, she calls it washing machine. And she knows that's where we are. So I'm pretty sure she's got it figured out."

"So we'll officially tell her," he asks.

"I didn't want to tell her until I knew how you felt about it. Until I knew if you were going to be in her life."

"I'm going to be in your lives," he says with firm certainty, "As long as you let me."

"Yeah," she smiles, "I asked for transfer. Since I'm pregnant I can't keep going through the gate, and I don't even want to work at the SGC with a baby on the way. I mean, we all know how many times that place has almost blown up. So I wanted to transfer, and if I'm going to transfer I wanted to transfer by you. And there was this job opening. It's working on wormhole physics out of the pentagon. But we don't have to. I mean, we can get our own place in D.C…" she begins.

"I want you guys to stay here. I want to live with the woman I love, and my daughters," he says.

"I don't want you to feel like we have to live together just because we're having a kid."

"Sam, you have to know I love you. Just wait," he says running into the house.

Grace turned with a worried face toward the door. "It's ok honey, Jack went to go get something!"

Grace smiles a concerned little smile. Jack comes out the door much more quickly than Sam expected.

"Remember that first night when you called me up asking me to do the long distance thing?" he asks.

"My memory is not so short term that I can't remember two months ago."

"The next day I bought you this," he says snapping open the box to reveal a ring. "I always knew that if we were ever to get together it'd be a fast courtship. All those years we worked together, I knew that we'd fall quickly. And as soon as it was real, as soon as we were really together, I knew that we'd get married soon. I am not asking you to marry me, to move in with me, because of the girls. I'm asking you guys to move in with me, because I love you. Because I can't picture my life without you."

"I'm a little confused. Are you just letting me know that you had the ring before you found out about the kids? Or are you actually asking me to marry you?"

He pulls her close for a hug, and a kiss behind her ear. Then he pulls away, "I'm asking you to be my wife."

"You're sure?" she asks grinning from ear to ear.

"Positive," he says.

She flings herself into his arms, "I love you."

"That a yes?" he says with a laugh.

"Yeah, it's a yes," she says pulling away pulling a ring onto his finger.

"And I was planning on retiring, moving back to Colorado Springs, and that would still be an option for us."

She shakes her head, "I want to stay in D.C. I want both of us to have careers, at least for a little bit longer."

"Ok, anything else you want to discus? Otherwise I'd really like to meet my daughter," he says.

Sam nods.

"Wait a second! You're not planning on going back to Colorado Springs today, are you?"

"No thanks! One flight with a five year old per day is quite enough for me!"

"You didn't bring any luggage?" he asks.

"It's at the hotel."

"You were planning on staying at the hotel?" he asks.

"I wasn't sure how this would go."

"We'll check out of your hotel after a bit, and then maybe we could go out to eat," he says.

She nods.

"But I've got to hold my Grace for a little bit," he says.

"Grace!" Sam calls out. Grace drops a handful of grasshoppers which bounce in a million directions as they hit the ground. She takes off at full speed running toward them. But she stops short before her parents looking from one to the other nervously.

"You want to come and sit on my lap?" Jack asks.

"Are you my dad?" she asks.

"Yes, honey, I am," he says. She crawls onto his lap tentatively, barely making contact. He leans back in the chair pulling her flush against him, "I love you Grace," he tells her. "And I'm proud of you. And I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to see you growing up."

"You were on earth," she says with a shrug.

"Didn't make it hurt less, did it?" he asks.

She starts crying with her head buried her Jack's chest. Sam reaches out her arm, trying to save her daughter from being without her father for all those long years. Jack holds her close, "I would have been there if I could have, and I am definitely going to be there for you now," he soothes the girl.

"Daddy, can I stay with you forever?" she asks clamping onto his neck.

"We have to go back to Colorado Springs on Monday, just you and me, Grace," Sam offers.

Grace clutches Jack harder, and starts to cry.

"But honey, that's just temporary, and then you're going to move here forever," Jack says.

"This house? With you?" the girl says pulling her face away from Jack.

"Yep," he says grinning.

Grace releases her death grip, and gives him a hug, "But I don't want to have to leave. I want to stay with you until Mommy comes back."

Jack pulls her back enough that he can look into her face, "Now see honey, that wouldn't be the best idea. See, when Monday comes around Daddy is going to have to work every day. He'd have to take you to school every day, and then get someone else to take you home from school and look after you until he got home from work every night. Mommy has some time off to move…" he looks at Sam.

"Two weeks," she offers.

"Right, so two weeks. And she can be with you every single minute of every single day for two weeks. You're a really lucky girl. And then after that time we're going to send you to school every day."

"Actually Jack, I got the early morning duty at the Pentagon. I start early, but I'll be done a bit before the schools let out. A lot of moms take that shift there."

He grins at her, "You hear that, Grace? You get extra Mommy time."

"What about Daddy time?" she asks clinging to him.

"Well, I'll be the one getting you ready for the day, and we'll get to have dinner together every night, and I'll be there to tuck you in, and there are always weekends."

"This sounds like a good deal," she says leaning into him.

"Grace, I am so glad that I got to meet you."

"You too Daddy, you too," she says sleepily.

Grocery store, Washington D.C.

Five years later

An old lady walks over to Jack, "Your girls are adorable."

"Thanks," he says picking up the toy that four-year-old Emma dropped while ruffling Grace's hair. Grace is old enough to be annoyed by that now, but he doesn't notice.

"They look like twins," she offers with a giggle.

"We are," Emma proclaims proudly, "We were just born six years apart."

"Adorable," the old lady repeats.

"I'm sure glad I got my little girls," he says.


End file.
